RIM Will Offer Four BlackBerry PlayBook Models, Maybe Android Applications
Posted on 14. Feb, 2011 by TabletMan in Tablets
In a fresh press release just published RIM has announced how many and different models they will launch their BlackBerry PlayBook 7-inch tablet with. RIM will offer the playbook in a Wi-Fi only model, a Wi-Fi + WiMAX model (for Sprint most likely), a Wi-Fi + LTE (for Verizon most likely) and a Wi-Fi + HSPA+ (for T-Mobile & AT&T most likely).
The BlackBerry PlayBook will not only feature 4G support but also boost Bluetooth tethering, Mobile hotspots (MiFi) and BlackBerry Bridge support natively on all models.
As for some launch dates RIM states that the Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + WiMAX models will both be coming first during this present half of 2011 and the LTE and HSPA+ capable models will be launched in the second half of 2011. No firm official release dates have been vocalized by RIM yet.
Official pricing as of now is also still non-existent across all the models. As stated above all we have is the leaked price for the Wi-Fi only model of the 7-inch PlayBook for Office Depot, that was $499.99 but RIM hasn’t commented on that slip so it isn’t an official price yet.
In other news regarding the PlayBook there have been some whispers that RIM is working on a way to port Android applications to the PlayBook’s QNX based ‘BlackBerry Tablet OS’. RIM in early 2010 acquired QNX months before announcing plans for the PlayBook tablet. Currently the stock of QNX applications is quite bare –even with RIM offering a Free Playbook for every approved application– and can’t really compete with Android Marketplace (over 200k apps.) and definetly not with Apple’s App Store (over 350k apps) in it’s current state.
At this time there is one well known and proven software known as ‘Dalvik’ which can allow you to among other things run Android applications on a non-Android device. From the Bloomberg report on this rumor, RIM will not be using Dalvik but will instead use their own software. All of this is rumors going of unnamed sources though so take it with a grain of salt.
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Tweets that mention RIM Will Offer Four BlackBerry PlayBook Models, Maybe Android Applications | Tablets Planet -- Topsy.com
14. Feb, 2011
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Diego Angarita, Adam Simmons. Adam Simmons said: RIM Will Offer Four BlackBerry PlayBook Models, Maybe Android Applications http://dlvr.it/GbBV5 [...]
BlackBerry PlayBook With 4G Coming Soon To Sprint, Get Notified | Tablets Planet
22. Mar, 2011
[...] we previously expected Sprint will be one of the carriers to launch the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook in 2011. The PlayBook [...]